CanOA is a Surface Ocean Observation Platform installed on a Voluntary Observing Ship that connects the Canary Islands with Barcelona. The route includes the ports of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Lanzarote, and then continues towards the Iberian Peninsula through Sagunto and Barcelona.
This weekly transect allows repeated observations across the eastern Canary Islands region, the North African region towards the Strait of Gibraltar and the western Mediterranean. As a mobile ocean station, CanOA provides a unique observational link between the subtropical North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.
The CanOA line was designed and is maintained by the QUIMA Group of the Institute of Oceanography and Global Change at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It was established in February 2019 and has been part of the ICOS ocean network since January 2021.
The measuring system installed in the ship’s engine room includes a General Oceanics PCO2 system and a LICOR 7000 infrared CO2 analyser. The equipment measures CO2 exchange between seawater and air and is complemented by seawater temperature sensors, a thermosalinograph, a dissolved oxygen sensor and autonomous recording of navigation and environmental variables. Since August 2021, data have been transmitted by satellite to the onshore laboratory and to the ICOS network.